Your drawings, built as you drew them.
A good share of our work comes from architects whose sets we have built. They are not buying enthusiasm. They are buying the absence of surprises.
License 802739 (opens in a new tab)Class B General BuildingInsuredEight details and the rule for each
We do not take the client.
No in-house designer waiting to be introduced. No pitch to simplify your scheme into something we would rather build. The relationship is yours. We stay in our half of it.
We price the set you drew.
No value engineering as an opening move. No quiet swaps for assemblies that install faster. If a detail won't build, or won't build for its budget, you hear it in design development, in writing, with an alternative and a number. Not on site, after your client has fallen in love with it.
A written constructability review is a Phase 03 deliverable, not a favor. When your client has chosen another builder, Matt can do the same reading as their owner’s representative.
We carry the permit process.
We can submit the permit application, track plan check and attend hearings as the builder; revisions to the drawings stay with you. How we manage a project. Coastal, architectural review and variance triggers are flagged from the parcel number before design development, so your schedule has a chance against the county.
What we ask in return.
- Bring us in at schematic, when a constructability read costs nothing and saves the most.
- Tell us the real budget, reserve included. We would rather build to it than discover it.
- Let us be honest about cost in front of the client. A late number reflects on us both.
Send a set.
Schematic or design development, returned in writing: what builds, what doesn't, what it costs, which agency will have an opinion. No approach to your client.
Eight details, and the rule we hold each one to.
These come from The Montecito Standard, the field guide we train on. Each links to a model of the detail that you can turn and pull apart. If your set calls for something different, the set wins; this is where we start when it is silent.
- Plate 3Casing and revealSet the reveal with a gauge block and keep it the same on both legs and the head before you nail.
- Plate 15ScribingScribe to the wall. Do not caulk a gap you could have cut out.
- Plate 16Crown at a cornerCope inside corners and miter outside corners. Test the fit on scrap first.
- Plate 14Inset, overlay, full overlayInset doors are fitted one at a time. Allow the hours for it.
- Plate 17Three-piece baseboardJoin long runs with a scarf joint over a stud, glued and nailed.
- Plate 20Hanging a doorPlumb the hinge side first. Shim behind each hinge and at the strike, check the margin is even, then fix.
- Plate 9Wood movementLet trim and panels sit in the house before install, and never glue a panel into its frame.
- Plate 7The stairMeasure every rise before you cut. The tallest and shortest riser in a flight may differ by no more than 3/8 inch.
Built by Matt Newman. Licensed since 2001. Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, twenty years on this coast, and on every AMN site himself. One name on the contract. His story
Email a set. We will tell you what builds.
Send it to purchasing@amnbuild.com. Matt reads the set himself and replies in writing within two business days.
CSLB 802739 · Class B General Building · Licensed and insured · Two-year workmanship warranty, in writing
Updated November 2026